Sauer shrugged, as if he weren’t convinced yet. “The methods?”
“The Exsanguination Killer immobilizes their victims with drugs and restraints, usually in outdoor areas,” Paige said. “Then they open major veins in their victims, and leave them to bleed out. My guess is that they stay to watch that process.”
“Why?” Sauer asked.
“Because why do something so slow otherwise?” Paige asked. “Or at least, why do something so slow that doesn’t cause much pain? The victims aren’t being left to die in agony alone. They’re being watched while they die.”
Sauer nodded. “It seems that you know quite a bit. All right. Now for the parts that don’t get released to the public. The murder weapon appears to be a surgical scalpel, or some equally small, sharp blade. The killer makes cuts vertically along veins, making it harder to save victims even if they’re found. And, in one of each set of victims, the killer leaves a note.”
He opened the file he’d pushed to Paige, letting her see a photograph of a note.
You will not catch me. This is necessary. It must happen, and it will. You cannot stop me. You can only watch, as I watch.
The note was not signed, even with the nom de guerre given to the killer. Instead, blood had been dropped onto the page, and something had been pressed into it to make a design, almost the way someone might use a wax seal. The design was in the shape of a seahorse.
It was a detail that hadn’t been released to the public, and so Paige didn’t have it in her files at home. This was new. She just had to hope that it would be enough to lead her to him.
So that she could kill him.